Moving to bethesda - what's a good income? (Germantown, Frederick: fit in, for sale)

[biozfear]

Hi,

I stumbled across this forum yesterday and have already found it very helpful!
My company is offering me a position in a new office opening in Bethesda, which involves me relocating from the UK.

I've got a couple of questions I was hoping someone might be able to help me with:

Firstly, I've been offered just over $60K a year, plus housing paid for two years. Would this provide a good standard of living for this area? In the UK I'm on quite a good salary (like 50% more than the regional average), but it's not amazing.
Obviously, the first two years will be fine as I have free rent, but the third year might be harder as I have to pay for a house myself. I've looked at Bethesda's page on this site and the average wage is much higher than what they are offering me, but that's just an average and I don't know what it means in real terms.

Secondly, where is a good area/community to look for real houses? I'd prefer to live somewhere 'out of town' and have a plot of land, rather than an apartment in the centre of Bethesda. I'd much rather have space and commute for an hour if necessary (the office is outside Bethesda's metro line so that might help). Last time I visited in October, a couple of people suggested Reston and some new development in north of Rockville I can't remember!
I don't care about school areas (no kids), but would like somewhere safe - Or at least know which areas to avoid.

Thanks in advance,
JB

[mamaecho]

Can you live in another location than Bethesda?
I wouldn't suggest Reston, I think your commute would be super long.
60k is doable (ANY amount is doable) but it depends on your expectations as far as how nice of living would you want? How much debt do you have, etc? Those things would impact that 60k, car payments, etc.

I would say that we have been able to live a pretty good (not at all extravegant life) on 55 (or 60 I'm not sure which lol) k and we have a family of four.. but I know that MY lifestyle isn't considered great by many so it depends on what you want....I would suggest if you want to keep the housing low (for when you are paying for it) moving out of the city would be the best, Germantown and west.

[laminmd]

I think a lot depends on what you are looking for in your home and hometown. Do you want a large yard so you can garden? When you say you "want space" is that just the yard or is it the house as well? How many people do you need to house? There are some larger plots of land in Kensington, which has its own cute historic districts (the old town part is full of antique shops and there is also Garrett Park) and a variety of housing options, none of which are apartments. You could commute from Kensington to Bethesda in 15-30 minutes depending on where in Kensington you are coming from and what the traffic is like. An advantage of this location is that you can get away from the crowds when you want and be in downtown Bethesda to take advantage of all the restaurants, theaters, and night life on the weekends. Remember that the farther out you go, the more you get stuck in traffic commuting. If you are at all handy, you can buy a smaller Kensington fixer-upper and be comfortable on $60k (especially if there are only one or two of you in the household), depending on your down payment. Good luck and let me know if I can answer any specific questions. I have lived in Bethesda for much of my life and I am very familiar with the entire DC metro area, so feel free to send me a private message.

[WilliamsH]

Originally Posted by biozfear

Hi,

I stumbled across this forum yesterday and have already found it very helpful!
My company is offering me a position in a new office opening in Bethesda, which involves me relocating from the UK.

I've got a couple of questions I was hoping someone might be able to help me with:

Firstly, I've been offered just over $60K a year, plus housing paid for two years. Would this provide a good standard of living for this area? In the UK I'm on quite a good salary (like 50% more than the regional average), but it's not amazing.
Obviously, the first two years will be fine as I have free rent, but the third year might be harder as I have to pay for a house myself. I've looked at Bethesda's page on this site and the average wage is much higher than what they are offering me, but that's just an average and I don't know what it means in real terms.

Secondly, where is a good area/community to look for real houses? I'd prefer to live somewhere 'out of town' and have a plot of land, rather than an apartment in the centre of Bethesda. I'd much rather have space and commute for an hour if necessary (the office is outside Bethesda's metro line so that might help). Last time I visited in October, a couple of people suggested Reston and some new development in north of Rockville I can't remember!
I don't care about school areas (no kids), but would like somewhere safe - Or at least know which areas to avoid.

Thanks in advance,
JB

60K will put in good sharp until you have to pay for your own housing, then you'll be in the lower part of the middle class grouping.

Reston is too far, it's across the river in Virginia and really doesn't have anything to offer that you can't find in the Bethesda area, it's a bedroom community. The new developement north of Rockville is probably Falls Grove or King Farm. Both offer a wide range of housing options but are relatively dense, not a lot of space.

To find some space you'll need to look in the northern parts of Montgomery County. Damascus, Laytonsville, Poolesville, Dickerson are all a little more rural and less than an hour's commute. There is a lot of new housing going up in the Clarksburg area. Frederick is a city to itself, not just another suburb, but it will be a hour or more in heavy traffic. Garrett Park is a nice area close in to Bethesda if you can find something affordable, same goes for the Cabin John/Glen Echo area west of Bethesda near the river.

My impressions of these areas are likely quite a bit different than yours. Best would be to plan on a week or more of touring around and looking at places once you have learned exactly where you are going to be working.

Good Luck and welcome to Maryland.

[Katzenjammer]

I would highly recommend Garrett Park, if it fits your budget. This area is very safe. The houses in old Garrett Park are pricey, but well built. Next door is the Garrett Park Estates, also called White Flint Estates. These houses (mostly brick and very uniform) are less expensive than the ones in old historic Garrett Park. Old historic Garrett Park has a unique character all its own. The houses are all different, some date from the 1800s. Homes in old Garrett Park are rarely offered for sale--when they are, they usually go fast. Its a highly desireable area that is little known to outsiders. I grew up in Garrett Park. When I was a kid, there were lots of people who worked at NIH (including my father) living there. The biggest perk of living in Garrett Park: being within walking distance of an international calibre performing arts center with superb acoustics (Strathmore Center for Performing Arts) Oh, you might also check out Tacoma Park. That town also has a unique character.

But if your heart is set on an acre of ground, Frederick, Olney, or Burtonsville might also be worth a look. A very pretty area of Frederick for acre lots: Indian Springs (Mountain Laurel estates). You might also try Braddock Heights (small town west of Frederick). good luck!

[biozfear]

Thanks for all the help with this, it is all very appreciated. You've all given me so much information to follow up on!
I know it's difficult to say what a good wage is - the fact that no one has come back shocked at the wage they are offering is a good sign. I know you can live off anything, but it's good to get a rough idea of where I would fit in. I'm hoping my wife will find work quite soon, but it may take a little time for her work permit to come through.

I'm going to visit in about 1 month with my wife for a week as part of a reccy visit. This will be my wife's first time seeing the area so I hope she likes it - though we both love America so I'm sure she will. I've seen the area a little before on previous work trips, but only what is on the metro line between Bethesda and Rockville. Luckily this time we get a car so I can go look around some of the areas everyone has mentioned. I'm also going to try and see what the traffic is like one of the morning as well.

In terms of housing, I'm not looking for a large house, just really a big yard. In my ideal world I'd have a detached house with some space between me and the neighbours so they can't see into my yard like they can here, though I understand that may be a few more years away for us!

Anyway, thanks again for all the help, I'll probably be sending loads more questions in the future. It's good to know I have somewhere to find the answers!

JB

[laminmd]

Hi Biozfear,

One thing I want to highlight is that the farther out you go, the worse the daily commute becomes. If you stay closer in and locate within easy access of a metro, you also have the option of taking the train if you don't like the amount of time required to commute by car (or if you dislike the stress that can be generated by the driving conditions at rush hour here). Farther out you will find more house and land for your money and less of an urban or crowded suburban feel if you get far enough away, but there is a price attached with the commute. I strongly recommend that you try to drive down the 270 corridor at rush hour a few timesif you become interested in one of the places that has been mentioned between Gaithersburg and Frederick. What would normally be a commute of less than an hour without traffic can easily become a 2 hour commute if you are driving when everyone else is on the road. Good luck and let us know how things work out.

[teleblazer]

I agree that at first 60k will seem fine as long as someone else is footing the bill for housing. Once that is gone the belt may be too tight for comfort.

My wife works in Bethesda and commutes from Mount Airy, MD and she makes roughly what you make. If we were to drop to just her salary we couldn't afford to live in the area. Land comes at a premium out here, so the bigger yards produce often the bigger costs.

Many homes these days are built on the small plats of land where an old farmer died and his grandchildren didn't want to farm anymore so they sold to a developer. There are some tracks of areas with more than an acre of land to be found but the norm these days is less than an acre per home in how they subdivide for residential housing. Many of those homes go for hundreds of thousands of dollars in value.

270 can be a nightmare if you hit the wrong time frame for traffic, and often it acts like a parking lot in some spots (not anywhere near as bad as I-66 in Virginia though in my opinion).

Good luck in your transition but at face value, I think I'd look for other options because I think in the end you will be hosed and new employers here will base what they want to pay you off what you are currently making so it may take you years to get your salary up high enough to afford the place you pick. Wish there were better news.